Bruins at Jets Preview: 3/14/2019

The Boston Bruins (42-19-9, 93 points, 2nd in the Atlantic Division) enter Thursday night on a two-game losing streak as they take on the Winnipeg Jets (40-25-4, 84 points, 1st in the Central Division) coming off a, 7-4, loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Winnipeg visited Boston on Jan. 29th and won, 4-3, in a shootout, thereby leading the season series over the Bruins, 1-0-0.

The Jets also enter Thursday night on a two-game losing skid, as well as a 4-6-0 record in their last ten games, while the B’s enter Bell MTS Place with a 7-2-1 record in their last ten outings.

Torey Krug (upper body injury) is day-to-day and will be out of the action against the Jets. As a result, Connor Clifton was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) and will likely pair up with Steven Kampfer on the third defensive pairing.

Bruce Cassidy is expected to bump up John Moore to the second defensive pairing in Krug’s place alongside Brandon Carlo, while Cassidy will also utilize Paul Carey– making his Bruins debut– on the second line with David Krejci and Charlie Coyle.

Carey was called up from Providence in place of Jake DeBrusk (lower body) who will remain out of the lineup against Winnipeg, but resumed skating on Thursday back at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston.

The 30-year-old forward has 14-6–20 totals in 21 games with Providence this season and was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators in January in exchange for Cody Goloubef.

He will wear No. 34 for the black-and-gold.

To fit Carey on the current roster, Peter Cehlarik was reassigned to Providence. Cassidy indicated the decision to send down Cehlarik was primarily a playing-time based decision, with Cehlarik having appeared in a season-low 8:15 time on ice in Tuesday’s loss to Columbus.

Instead of another low ice-time outing, Cehlarik will rejoin the minor-league Bruins for a matchup on Friday and Saturday, whereas Boston is getting back to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts late on Friday before a game on Saturday and another off day on Sunday.

Cassidy also provided updates to reporters on Thursday, indicating the team would have an update on Marcus Johansson (lung contusion) next week, Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) is nearing a return (likely on the next road trip) and Kevan Miller (upper body) is still week-to-week.

David Pastrnak (left thumb) remains skating on his own at practice, but was not given an update to his return.

In goal for the Bruins on Thursday, Tuukka Rask (24-9-5 record, 2.41 goals against average, .918 save percentage in 39 games played) looks to avenge his early dismissal against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, in which he stopped 19 out of 24 shots faced in 28:09 TOI.

Connor Hellebuyck (28-20-2, 3.01 GAA, .909 SV% in 52 GP) was the first goalie off the ice at morning skate for the Jets on Thursday and is likely to be Paul Maurice’s starter against Boston for the 2nd time this season.

Hellebuyck notched the shootout win for Winnipeg in January.

The Jets are still without the services of Dustin Byfuglien, Josh Morrissey and Joe Morrow against the Bruins.

Winnipeg is 3-3-0 in the month of March so far and 18-16-0 at home this season. Boston is 4-2-0 this month and 15-12-6 on the road this season.